'Sometimes I wish ISIS had killed me too'

Last updated on: April 04, 2018 12:55 IST

'At least if I had died, my family would have got the money.'

IMAGE: Harjit Masih, centre, flanked by "best friend" Kanwaljit Singh, left, and Harsimranjeet Singh.This photograph was taken near the construction site they worked at in Mosul. Simranjit and Kanwaljit were among the 39 Indians killed by ISIS. All photographs: Kind courtesy Harjit Masih

Everyone at Kala Afghana village in Punjab and in neighbouring villages knows Harjit Masih, but he is not proud of his fame.

He is the man from Mosul.

The man, who survived a massacre that left 39 work-mates dead at the hands of Islamic State after they overran the Iraqi city in the summer of 2014.

"Everyone knows me because of that terrible tragedy. My memories of Mosul only bring me sadness. How can I be proud about my fame? I lost everything there," Masih told Rediff.com's Swarupa Dutt over the phone.

It was his neighbours who told the 28 year old that the bodies of his colleagues had returned home on Monday, April 2.

It was his neighbours who told him that the Punjab government had promised an ex gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh and a job to the kin of the deceased.

He was watching the news on Tuesday when he heard about the prime minister's ex gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh for the kin.

Did he get anything, the neighbours asked.

Nothing, not a single rupee, he told them.

Instead, the government called him a liar, the families of the men who died have filed charges of human trafficking and cheating against him.

He often wishes he had not survived the massacre; at least his family would have been provided for.

His sister has just finished milking the two cows that give two litres of milk a day.

Barely enough for a family of five, but essential sustenance when there is barely anything else. The cows are precious and of the two rooms in the family's mud house, they occupy one.

After a breakfast of tea and two rotis that his mother cooks, he sets off to find work at construction sites. He is home by 9 pm and after dinner it's bedtime.

In Mosul too, his work day would end at 8 pm, dinner and bed two hours later.

It brings a smile to his face sometimes, when he remembers the cricket matches with the Bangladeshi workers on their day off on Friday.

"We won as many times as they did," he says.

But mostly Mosul is an internal battle he is still fighting.

Iraq has taught him to be a survivor.

And survive he wants to, to ensure a better future for his family.

Prime Minister Modi has announced an ex gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the kin of the 39 men killed in Mosul in 2014. Have you got any aid?

I am really happy for them, but wish the government would bestow the same concern on me.

I am not getting any benefits only because I am alive. How is this fair?

At least if I had died, my family would have got the money.

But I do feel extremely sorry for their families; it's terrible they have come home dead after all these years.

I have asked the Punjab government and the Centre for aid since the time I came home in 2014, but haven't got a single rupee. What can I expect to get now?

Debtors come home every day and I ward them off saying I will soon get aid from the government.

Sometimes I wish ISIS had killed me too. I am being penalised only because I survived.

Mera na koi kusur, na koi dosh. All I did was to tell the truth.

Did the government get in touch with you after it announced that the men were dead?

No, never. Not even when Sushma madam (External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj) made the announcement (in Parliament) that they were dead.

IMAGE: Harjit poses for a photograph taken by a neighbour. He doesn't own a smart phone and had to request the neighbour to WhatsApp the picture.

Have any of the families tried to contact you since the bodies returned?

No, none. All of them got in touch with me when I returned to India in 2014.

They used to meet me then, but when Sushmaji kept saying that that the men are still alive they stopped meeting me. They thought I was lying.

I told the families, I told the government that the men had been killed right before my eyes. They would ask me how I survived.

Mujhe pataa nahin mein kaise bach gaya (I don't know how I survived).

The families said madamji (Swaraj) had told them their men were alive.

They said they had got phone calls from the men after June 14, 2014, the day they had all been shot dead.

The government has maintained that you have been lying about the deaths of the 39 Indians and about the manner of your escape. Why?

I don't know why the government believes I lied.

But let me tell you one thing, when terrorists kidnap you, they don't leave anyone alive.

So the government must have thought if I can escape as I said I did, the others must have also escaped.